SonicWall recently announced record statistics for ransomware attacks, malware volume, chip-based attacks, and encrypted threats in their 2018 SonicWall Cyber Threat Report. According to the CEO at The Chertoff Group, Chad Sweet, real-time cyber threat intelligence has become more dangerous than ever with cybercriminals unearthing new attack vectors such as chip-based and encrypted attacks. For organisations to stay safe in the cyberspace, they must utilise all tools in their security war chest.

Malware Volume Continue to Rise From 2017’s Record Highs

The malware explosion that was recorded in 2017 has not subsided in the first half of 2018. According to research done by SonicWall Capture Labs, there have been over 5.99 billion malware attacks in the first two quarters of this year. At this time in 2017, SonicWall had recorded only 2.97 billion malware attacks. In 2018, the malware volume was constant during the first quarter, and it later dropped below the 1 billion mark in April, May, and June.

Ransomware Back with a Bang

In a report that was published in March, SonicWall Capture Labs researchers recorded that ransomware attacks had dropped considerably; from 645 million to 184 million; from 2016 to 2017. However, SonicWall has now reported that ransomware attacks have surged in the first six months in 2018. More than 181.5 million ransomware attacks have been recorded so far this year. This is a 229 percent increase compared to a time like this in 2017.

Encrypted Attacks Hit a Record High

Encryption is a current trend in legitimate traffic as well as malicious cyber-attacks. Last year, SonicWall’s report indicated that 68 percent of traffic was encrypted using SSL/TLS. So far in 2018, 69.7 percent of traffic is leveraging encryption. Cybercriminals have tactically followed this trend to prevent their malicious payloads from being exposed. Encrypted attacks have risen by 275 percent compared to a time like this in 2017. It is predicted that the encrypted attacks will continue to increase in sophistication and scale until they become the standard for malware transfer.